Johnny Carsonby Henry Bushkin

Read Johnny Carson Online Free - A revealing and incisive account of the King of Late Night at the height of his fame and power, by his lawyer, wingman, fixer, and closest confidant

From 1962 until 1992, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show and permeated the American consciousness. In the ’70s and ’80s he was the country’s highest-paid entertainer and its most enigmatic. He was notoriously inscrutable, as mercurial (and sometimes cruel) off-camera as he was charming and hilarious onstage. During the apex of his reign, Carson’s longtime lawyer and best friend was Henry Bushkin, who now shows us Johnny Carson with a breathtaking clarity and depth that nobody else could.

From the moment in 1970 when Carson hired Bushkin (who was just twenty-seven) until the moment eighteen years later when they parted ways, the author witnessed and often took part in a string of escapades that still retain their power to surprise and fascinate us. One of Bushkin’s first assignments was helping Carson break into a posh Manhattan apartment to gather evidence of his wife’s infidelity. More than once, Bushkin helped his client avoid entanglements with the mob. Of course, Carson’s adventures weren’t all so sordid. He hosted Ronald Reagan’s inaugural concert as a favor to the new president, and he prevented a drunken Dean Martin from appearing onstage that evening. Carson socialized with Frank Sinatra, Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Kirk Douglas, and dozens of other boldface names who populate this atmospheric and propulsive chronicle of the King of Late Night and his world.

But this memoir isn’t just dishy. It is a tautly rendered and remarkably nuanced portrait of Carson, revealing not only how he truly was, but why. Bushkin explains why Carson, a voracious (and very talented) womanizer, felt he always had to be married; why he loathed small talk even as he excelled at it; why he couldn’t visit his son in the hospital and wouldn’t attend his mother’s funeral; and much more. Bushkin’s account is by turns shocking, poignant, and uproarious — written with a novelist’s eye for detail, a screenwriter’s ear for dialogue, and a knack for comic timing that Carson himself would relish. Johnny Carson unveils not only the hidden Carson, but also the raucous, star-studded world he ruled.

Title

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Johnny Carson

Author

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Henry Bushkin

Rating

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ISBN

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0544217624

Edition Language

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English

Format Type

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Hardcover

Number of Pages

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279 pages

Reviews

Antigone rated it ★★★☆☆

January 04, 2017

Johnny Carson was a loner. This was understood. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the city he chose to make his home.
Los Angeles, as every transplant will be quick to perceive, is a very small town. It is a burg in which those six degrees of separation are pared to three, and the fundamental lesson...

Barbara rated it ★★★☆☆

June 04, 2017

Johnny Carson is best known as a comedian and host of the 'The Tonight Show', which he emceed from 1962 to 1992. When I plucked this (audio) book off the library shelf I thought it was a biography of the entertainer. It's not. Rather it's a memoir written by Carson's lawyer Henry Bushkin, who wor...

Matt rated it ★★★☆☆

November 04, 2013

Just know what you're getting here. While the book is titled "Johnny Carson," it more accurately would be called "Bombastic Bushkin: The True-Life Story of What It Was Like To Be Johnny Carson's Lawyer."
In other words, there is little insight about Carson the icon, the entertainer, or the man. Le...

JoAnne rated it ★☆☆☆☆

November 13, 2013

JOHNNY CARSON
Henry Bushkin
I'm going to remember Johnny Carson as the master of the late night talk shows. Other than that there's not much to say about him personally.
He was a remote, angry, drinker and womanizer with very little warmth. He himself said he was not a good husband or father. He was...

Mac rated it ★★★★☆

December 26, 2013

Who wants to read about a demanding, difficult, and damaged person with a suave, confident persona on air and a shy, sad, isolated life when not before an audience? Who wants to read about such a mercurial personality who hurts others, fires people, and divorces wives with cruel, bitter remarks?...

Una rated it ★★★☆☆

February 06, 2015

While the book and information about Carson was mildly interesting, the repetitive back patting of this book forced me to scan more than read. I found one awesome quote by Carson: If things were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead.

Joe rated it ★★★★☆

August 05, 2016

As a child my very first hero was Johnny. If anyone ever asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would always say, I want to be a comedian like Johnny Carson.
It's not hard to see why he would be such a fascinating figure to a small Nebraskan boy. He too came from a small Nebraskan town and...

Jkhickel rated it ★☆☆☆☆

March 16, 2014

Proving exactly what kind of a clever lawyer he is, Henry Bushkin waited until Johnny Carson was dead and cold in his grave before publishing this book, giving Bushkin some measure of protection against any possible charges of libel or violating Carson’s attorney-client confidentiality. Very prof...

Susan rated it ★★★★☆

October 25, 2013

A story of an unrequited love.
I think we all have stories that we hear our elders tell about us when we were younger that we have to smile at, even if we're not sure they're true. One story along those lines for me is about how the mother of one of my childhood friend's came into her living ro...

Nick rated it ★★★☆☆

October 23, 2013

If you have read any of the recent articles reviewing this book, you won't be surprised by much. I think everything remotely shocking was covered and exaggerated to its fullest before this book hit the shelves. Yes, Johnny was at times nice and at times nasty. Yes, the mob makes a scary appearanc...

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